Anime Rebirth

Review - Uchuu Kuubo Blue Noah

Review by Roriconfan

Value: 7
Although old and typical, Blue Noah (commonly called Thundersub in English and Ipovrichio Keravnos in Greek) was amongst the first war drama/science fiction series to offer to the Western World an ongoing and rationalized scenario. There were almost no stand-alone episodes and you even got to sympathize with the bad guys of the story. Quite enough to give it some credit but nothing great considering what we get to watch today.

What you really get to appreciate on Blue Noah is its vast variety of weaponry and technological ideas. Almost every episode features a new form of weapon or technological advancement that could make techno-freaks drool all over them. From typical weapons such as depth mines, torpedoes and triple barrel cannons, to original ones, such as DNA-triggered mines, spy rockets, heavy-water barriers, black hole missiles and solar ray beams, the series was a parade of originality and technological apotheosis. The main sub alone could by default separate into different subs and transform into an armed to the teeth aircraft carrier while on the surface!

In fact, most of the series’ appeal were the weapons instead of the characters. Plus, all were offered with an easy to understand explanation/rationalization, making even the unrealistic ones appear believable.

Animation: 7
Nothing much to write here. Although very old, there is a lot of detail given on machines and technology in general. The human figures are simple drawn and fade in comparison with the submarines and the airships. It’s one of those shows were you appreciate the machine drawings more than the people controlling them.

Sound: 6
Nothing much to write here, either. Poor and mostly boring song themes are the norm. The voice acing is generally mediocre. The blasts and explosions were fine most of the time.

Story: 7
Starts very commonly but gets better along the way, thanks to the non-stop upgrades of the main sub’s capabilities. (spoiler alert!)

In the near future, an alien race attacks Earth and conquers it in a matter of hours. Most of humanity is killed, and the rest is enslaved. A group of university students escape the attack bump on a secret ultra-powerful submarine that the remaining military plans to use against the aliens. They are accepted as a crew, since they lack a lot in manpower and begin a quest to unite the rest of humanity against the aliens.

The story is divided into story arks, where the submarine attacks an alien base, frees the prisoners and stops the terraforming plans of the aliens. The story arks are not stand-alones as on each one, extra crew and weapons are added to the sub.

The story would be very childish if it wouldn’t be rationalized all the time. For instance, unlike in most other similar series, …
-The aliens are not typical evil, egocentric monsters that want to rule the universe. They are the last survivors of a dying planet that simply want a new home. Earth has enough similarities and attack because they know that humans wouldn’t simply accept them. They do not plan to destroy Earth in the name of evil but colonize it in the name of survival. They don’t just look but also have feelings like humans.
- Blue Noah takes into account the fact that the aliens cannot breathe oxygen and need to terraform the atmosphere to match their own. All the destruction we see is actually attempts to change the climate.
- Attention is given on physics. The gravity of the aliens’ moon changes the axis of the Earth and the world climate in general, terraforming makes the sea and the air a lot heavier, and sea pressure is increased by depth and prevents sonar readings. Sounds a lot more realistic than watching moons and planets blowing up in Dragonball Z, without affecting the surroundings.

As the story progresses, the submarine is elevated to the status of a spaceship and fights the alien moon directly in space. There is an ending, although it is rather simplistic for the level of attention it gave so far.

The story still has its problems. An entire advanced alien civilization seems unable to stop a single submarine. The good guys seem to always have endless fuel and ammunition, no matter how many times they fight. Plus, the aliens die by the thousands while the humans win without a single casualty. But, it is quite good in the general sense.

Characters: 5
Very cliché by today’s standards. I doubt you will pay more attention to the human heroes than the alien bad guys, since their presence is a lot stronger. I doubt you will pay more attention to the aliens and not the weapons and the machines. Each one has an air of tragedy around him/her but after watching Martian Successor Nadesico, they feel completely FAKE!

Nothing that deserves attention here. The general idea that every one of them think is the tragedy of war and the fact that they have to win or extinct as a race (humans and aliens alike).

Enjoyment: 6
The characters are fake; the machines get all the credit. The story is interesting thanks to the scientific explanations, instead of the characters. If more attention was given on them, then it would be a truly great series.